𝐑𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐞𝐝 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐭𝐫𝐲, says 𝐀𝐤𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐢𝐨

The President of the Senate, Godwin Akpabio said the old national anthem, “Nigeria, We Hail Thee,” would have tackled banditry and insecurity if it was retained.

The National Assembly had recently passed the National Anthem Bill 2024 to revert to the old national anthem, “Nigeria, we hail thee”, abolished in 1978.

However, Akpabio said the reintroduction of the old national anthem would ensure unity and love among Nigerians.

Speaking during a visit to the Nigeria Institute of Legislative and Democratic Studies in Abuja, Akpabio berated those labelling the re-introduced anthem as an element of colonialism.

“The other impactful bill signed by the National Assembly is the reverting to our old national anthem.

“A lot of people are not aware that there was a panel set up and made up of Nigerians to receive input from all over the world in 1959.

“So when people are saying we’re bringing in colonial anthem, they need to look into the history of “Nigeria, we hail thee”.

“If we had kept to that anthem, we probably would not have banditry today in Nigeria because if you take your neighbour as your brother, you will not want to kill him,” he said.